https://blue.feedland.org/?river=http://data.feedland.org/blue/feeds/Tiernan.xml It's just a feed for now Tue, 07 Jan 2025 10:37:48 GMT feedland v0.6.43 https://cyber.harvard.edu/rss/rss.html Tue, 07 Jan 2025 10:37:48 GMT http://rpc.rsscloud.io:5337/pleaseNotify Tue, January 7, 2025 5:37 AM EST <p> What is the risk that we will see another Forensic Science Provider depart the market and what impact would that departure have on the Criminal Justice System? This is the question that I am sure that the Home Office is asking in 2025. It&#39;s not an easy question to answer, but what governments are supposed to do is to be pessimistic and plan for the worst case scenario and put a contingency plan into place. Clearly the worst case scenario, now that all our eggs are in one basket, is that something happens to Eurofins which causes them to be unable to provide a service. Let&#39;s not forget, that this already happened once in 2019. That time there were two providers which were able to take up some of Eurofins capacity and at least allow the CJS to function. If it were to happen next time it would be an extinction level event, asteroids and dinosaurs type stuff.</p> <p>One question we should all be asking the government, via our MPs, is what contingency plan does the government have in place in the event of a catastrophic failure of the market for forensic science in England and Wales. If they don&#39;t have one, they need one.</p> <p>The gut feeling may be that at least the uncertainty over Cellmark has been resolved. This prevented the CJS being thrust into a crisis where police may not have been able to access exhibits and that biological evidence was under threat of decomposition. We know this because this is what happened in 2017 when KFS entered administration, with real fears being expressed concerning an uncontrolled exit of a forensic science provider, the government had to provide bail out money to prevent the landlords locking the doors and cutting off the power. In its application to the Competition and Markets Authority to acquire Cellmark, Eurofins argument was that without this acquisition, an uncontrolled exit of Cellmark was inevitable.</p> <p>Perhaps now that Cellmark is part of Eurofins that must mean the market is more stable and the likelihood of an uncontrolled exit reduced? Perhaps Eurofins is less of a departure risk now because its biggest competitor has been removed and that somehow, somehow, one company struggling to make a profit acquiring another that made catastrophic losses will work out for the better over the longer term? Perhaps Eurofins is too big to fail, because its parent company is loaded with cash and will just keep funding its UK subsidiary irrespective of its performance? Perhaps the Eurofins UK subsidiary is immune from the risk of fallout from a catastrophic event occurring to its parent company? Perhaps the probability of a catastrophic event occurring to Eurofins parent company is unlikely? Perhaps the government has control of this market now, somehow, and that it wouldn&#39;t allow a catastrophic event to happen? Perhaps Eurofins will begin to increase their prices because the police have lost all their leverage and will start turning the tide to profitability because it is doing more work for more money? Perhaps the police won&#39;t react to an increase in prices by reducing submissions and/ or moving work to KFS and therefore mitigate against any attempt by Eurofins to turn a profit? Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps but what evidence is there to support the view that the market is less of a threat now to the CJS than it was a year ago?</p> <p>Whilst there were three providers and the market was distributed amongst them, the swings and roundabouts of any one private provider, it&#39;s cultures, ownership, values and ethics didn&#39;t attract too much attention because there is a contingency that if one should fail, at least there were two others. When we&#39;re down to two, with one acquiring 86% the market, now it really matters. Let&#39;s face it, Eurofins only entered the forensic market in 2017 and did so through acquisition of LGC Forensics. I don&#39;t know what scrutiny, if any, they faced by the government prior to that purchase, as far as I know there is no fit and proper ownership test required for forensic science providers. Within two years, the owners suffered a massive cyber attack which had considerable effects on the capacity of forensic science services here in England and Wales for years afterwards. Eurofins paid off the criminals who perpetrated that ransomware attack <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-48881959">https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-48881959</a>, not a good look for a company who&#39;s main purpose in the UK CJS is to help catch criminals in the first place. What do we really know about the parent company of Eurofins Forensic Services? How do the operations of the parent company affect the UK subsidiary providing forensic services? Who are you really and perhaps more importantly, can we trust you?</p> <p>All forensic scientists here in England and Wales, need to educate ourselves about financial markets, because the events of 2024 mean that what happens there could have more real world consequences for many of you than any contract win or loss, new pricing structure, or internal restructuring that you may face.</p> Tue, 07 Jan 2025 10:37:48 GMT https://blue.feedland.org/?item=788065 https://blue.feedland.org/?item=788065 What is the risk that we will see another Forensic Science Provider depart the market and what impact would that departure have on the Criminal Justice System? This is the question that I am sure that the Home Office is asking in 2025. It's not an easy question to answer, but what governments are supposed to do is to be pessimistic and plan for the worst case scenario and put a contingency plan into place. Clearly the worst case scenario, now that all our eggs are in one basket, is that something happens to Eurofins which causes them to be unable to provide a service. Let's not forget, that this already happened once in 2019. That time there were two providers which were able to take up some of Eurofins capacity and at least allow the CJS to function. If it were to happen next time it would be an extinction level event, asteroids and dinosaurs type stuff. One question we should all be asking the government, via our MPs, is what contingency plan does the government have in place in the event of a catastrophic failure of the market for forensic science in England and Wales. If they don't have one, they need one. The gut feeling may be that at least the uncertainty over Cellmark has been resolved. This prevented the CJS being thrust into a crisis where police may not have been able to access exhibits and that biological evidence was under threat of decomposition. We know this because this is what happened in 2017 when KFS entered administration, with real fears being expressed concerning an uncontrolled exit of a forensic science provider, the government had to provide bail out money to prevent the landlords locking the doors and cutting off the power. In its application to the Competition and Markets Authority to acquire Cellmark, Eurofins argument was that without this acquisition, an uncontrolled exit of Cellmark was inevitable. Perhaps now that Cellmark is part of Eurofins that must mean the market is more stable and the likelihood of an uncontrolled exit reduced? Perhaps Eurofins is less of a departure risk now because its biggest competitor has been removed and that somehow, somehow, one company struggling to make a profit acquiring another that made catastrophic losses will work out for the better over the longer term? Perhaps Eurofins is too big to fail, because its parent company is loaded with cash and will just keep funding its UK subsidiary irrespective of its performance? Perhaps the Eurofins UK subsidiary is immune from the risk of fallout from a catastrophic event occurring to its parent company? Perhaps the probability of a catastrophic event occurring to Eurofins parent company is unlikely? Perhaps the government has control of this market now, somehow, and that it wouldn't allow a catastrophic event to happen? Perhaps Eurofins will begin to increase their prices because the police have lost all their leverage and will start turning the tide to profitability because it is doing more work for more money? Perhaps the police won't react to an increase in prices by reducing submissions and/ or moving work to KFS and therefore mitigate against any attempt by Eurofins to turn a profit? Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps but what evidence is there to support the view that the market is less of a threat now to the CJS than it was a year ago? Whilst there were three providers and the market was distributed amongst them, the swings and roundabouts of any one private provider, it's cultures, ownership, values and ethics didn't attract too much attention because there is a contingency that if one should fail, at least there were two others. When we're down to two, with one acquiring 86% the market, now it really matters. Let's face it, Eurofins only entered the forensic market in 2017 and did so through acquisition of LGC Forensics. I don't know what scrutiny, if any, they faced by the government prior to that purchase, as far as I know there is no fit and proper ownership test required for forensic science providers. Within two years, the owners suffered a massive cyber attack which had considerable effects on the capacity of forensic science services here in England and Wales for years afterwards. Eurofins paid off the criminals who perpetrated that ransomware attack https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-48881959, not a good look for a company who's main purpose in the UK CJS is to help catch criminals in the first place. What do we really know about the parent company of Eurofins Forensic Services? How do the operations of the parent company affect the UK subsidiary providing forensic services? Who are you really and perhaps more importantly, can we trust you? All forensic scientists here in England and Wales, need to educate ourselves about financial markets, because the events of 2024 mean that what happens there could have more real world consequences for many of you than any contract win or loss, new pricing structure, or internal restructuring that you may face. <p>GMP&#39;s announcement of NFA against persons alleged to have manipulated data in criminal cases marks the end of a 7 year period where the issues could not be openly discussed or debated in public. This period included several parliamentary inquiries the most recent being the inquiry held by the House of Lords in 2019.</p> <p>I respect the GMP&#39;s position on the case, they have all the information and are best placed to reach their conclusions, although I am somewhat confused that costs and a lack of technology have been quoted as the reason for the dropping of the investigations.</p> <p>There were no charges brought against the individuals in 7 years, the CPS confirmed this.</p> <p>Why? Was it a question of a difficulty in identifying a criminal offence to which scientists in the private sector could be prosecuted with a reasonable probability of success?</p> <p>Was there insufficient evidence to show the intent needed to prove a case of perverting the course of justice - (which was widely reported in the press at the time as being the offence which formed the basis of their arrest)?</p> <p>Was there concern that the route the CPS took recently to prosecuting a scientist for misconduct in public office was not applicable to those individuals employed in the private sector?</p> <p>There are huge questions that remain unanswered. In terms of the general risk landscape in forensic practice in England and Wales, do we now have an inequality in the capability of the state to prosecute individuals employed in the private sector compared to their public sector counterparts?</p> <p>What a mess. We could do with some answers and if there do exist loopholes in the current landscape, we could do with closing them. I&#39;ll be asking my MP to campaign for finding answers to all this, I&#39;d ask everyone to do the same. Contact your MP.</p> <p>A big thank you to GMP and the CPS for dealing with my recent FOI requests so promptly and professionally.</p> Sat, 30 Nov 2024 12:54:11 GMT https://blue.feedland.org/?item=787661 https://blue.feedland.org/?item=787661 GMP's announcement of NFA against persons alleged to have manipulated data in criminal cases marks the end of a 7 year period where the issues could not be openly discussed or debated in public. This period included several parliamentary inquiries the most recent being the inquiry held by the House of Lords in 2019. I respect the GMP's position on the case, they have all the information and are best placed to reach their conclusions, although I am somewhat confused that costs and a lack of technology have been quoted as the reason for the dropping of the investigations. There were no charges brought against the individuals in 7 years, the CPS confirmed this. Why? Was it a question of a difficulty in identifying a criminal offence to which scientists in the private sector could be prosecuted with a reasonable probability of success? Was there insufficient evidence to show the intent needed to prove a case of perverting the course of justice - (which was widely reported in the press at the time as being the offence which formed the basis of their arrest)? Was there concern that the route the CPS took recently to prosecuting a scientist for misconduct in public office was not applicable to those individuals employed in the private sector? There are huge questions that remain unanswered. In terms of the general risk landscape in forensic practice in England and Wales, do we now have an inequality in the capability of the state to prosecute individuals employed in the private sector compared to their public sector counterparts? What a mess. We could do with some answers and if there do exist loopholes in the current landscape, we could do with closing them. I'll be asking my MP to campaign for finding answers to all this, I'd ask everyone to do the same. Contact your MP. A big thank you to GMP and the CPS for dealing with my recent FOI requests so promptly and professionally. <p>Sooo starting all over again on Bluesky. I&#39;ve been thinking about how to tweet/post (whatevs) on the crisis in forensic science in England and Wales. For those unfamilliar with the situation a good place to start is my youtube channel <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@ForensicScienceCrisis">https://www.youtube.com/@ForensicScienceCrisis</a> - a historical record of information in the public domain</p> <p>including parliamentary enquiries, reports on scandals from the forensic regulator, reviews by the NPCC, Freedom of Information requests on the forensic marketplace and others, media reports etc etc.</p> <p>I&#39;ve decided to start with some threads I did over the years in the other place to begin building some context - that is if I can figure out how to do that from my archive of the deactivated account.</p> <p>The new government was voted in on a mandate for change. Yvette Cooper in her recent speech has signalled that at least they recognise that there is a problem in forensics that they need to fix.</p> <p>She said &quot;Take forensics, where the adoption of cutting edge forensic science across the board has been held back by UNCOORDINATED FUNDING, FRAGMENTED GOVERNANCE, resulting in duplication of effort and an inability to implement strategic plans&quot;. We will see.</p> Sun, 24 Nov 2024 15:51:14 GMT https://blue.feedland.org/?item=787597 https://blue.feedland.org/?item=787597 Sooo starting all over again on Bluesky. I've been thinking about how to tweet/post (whatevs) on the crisis in forensic science in England and Wales. For those unfamilliar with the situation a good place to start is my youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/@ForensicScienceCrisis - a historical record of information in the public domain including parliamentary enquiries, reports on scandals from the forensic regulator, reviews by the NPCC, Freedom of Information requests on the forensic marketplace and others, media reports etc etc. I've decided to start with some threads I did over the years in the other place to begin building some context - that is if I can figure out how to do that from my archive of the deactivated account. The new government was voted in on a mandate for change. Yvette Cooper in her recent speech has signalled that at least they recognise that there is a problem in forensics that they need to fix. She said "Take forensics, where the adoption of cutting edge forensic science across the board has been held back by UNCOORDINATED FUNDING, FRAGMENTED GOVERNANCE, resulting in duplication of effort and an inability to implement strategic plans". We will see. testing a threadmaker Sun, 24 Nov 2024 15:35:54 GMT https://blue.feedland.org/?item=787593 https://blue.feedland.org/?item=787593 testing a threadmaker testing a threadmaker Sun, 24 Nov 2024 15:35:05 GMT https://blue.feedland.org/?item=787592 https://blue.feedland.org/?item=787592 testing a threadmaker <p>sooo starting all over again on bluesky. I&#39;ll be posting on all things forensic with the #Forensic. I&#39;ve been thinking about how to tweet/post (whatever) on the crisis in Forensic Science in England and Wales</p> <p>Firstly I have created a youtube channel <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@ForensicScienceCrisis">https://www.youtube.com/@ForensicScienceCrisis</a> it consists of records in the public domain, including parliamentary enquiries, reports by the forensic regulator, media and others. Please do visit, like and subscribe.</p> <p>Secondly, to start with I&#39;ll be posting some previous threads I had on the other place just to build some context and provide a historical record of my views of the forensic science market over the years. I&#39;ve deactivated my account over there so will have to figure out how to do that from the archived data.</p> <p>Finally, the Home Secretary has just announced that the government appears to want do something about the appalling state of forensic science in E&amp;W, although there is no published plan or strategy yet.</p> Sun, 24 Nov 2024 15:08:16 GMT https://blue.feedland.org/?item=787589 https://blue.feedland.org/?item=787589 sooo starting all over again on bluesky. I'll be posting on all things forensic with the #Forensic. I've been thinking about how to tweet/post (whatever) on the crisis in Forensic Science in England and Wales Firstly I have created a youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/@ForensicScienceCrisis it consists of records in the public domain, including parliamentary enquiries, reports by the forensic regulator, media and others. Please do visit, like and subscribe. Secondly, to start with I'll be posting some previous threads I had on the other place just to build some context and provide a historical record of my views of the forensic science market over the years. I've deactivated my account over there so will have to figure out how to do that from the archived data. Finally, the Home Secretary has just announced that the government appears to want do something about the appalling state of forensic science in E&W, although there is no published plan or strategy yet. <p>sooo starting all over again on bluesky. I&#39;ll be posting on all things forensic with the #Forensic. I&#39;ve been thinking about how to tweet/post (whatever) on the crisis in Forensic Science in England and Wales</p> <p>Firstly I have created a youtube channel <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@ForensicScienceCrisis">https://www.youtube.com/@ForensicScienceCrisis</a> it consists of records in the public domain, including parliamentary enquiries, reports by the forensic regulator, media and others. Please do visit, like and subscribe.</p> <p>Secondly, to start with I&#39;ll be posting some previous threads I had on the other place just to build some context and provide a historical record of my views of the forensic science market over the years. I&#39;ve deactivated my account over there so will have to figure out how to do that from the archived data.</p> <p>Finally, the Home Secretary has just announced that the government appears to want do something about the appalling state of forensic science in E&amp;W, although there is no published plan or strategy yet.</p> Sun, 24 Nov 2024 15:05:42 GMT https://blue.feedland.org/?item=787587 https://blue.feedland.org/?item=787587 sooo starting all over again on bluesky. I'll be posting on all things forensic with the #Forensic. I've been thinking about how to tweet/post (whatever) on the crisis in Forensic Science in England and Wales Firstly I have created a youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/@ForensicScienceCrisis it consists of records in the public domain, including parliamentary enquiries, reports by the forensic regulator, media and others. Please do visit, like and subscribe. Secondly, to start with I'll be posting some previous threads I had on the other place just to build some context and provide a historical record of my views of the forensic science market over the years. I've deactivated my account over there so will have to figure out how to do that from the archived data. Finally, the Home Secretary has just announced that the government appears to want do something about the appalling state of forensic science in E&W, although there is no published plan or strategy yet. <p>sooo starting all over again on bluesky. I&#39;ll be posting on all things forensic with the #Forensic. I&#39;ve been thinking about how to tweet/post (whatever) on the crisis in Forensic Science in England and Wales</p> <p>Firstly I have created a youtube channel <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@ForensicScienceCrisis">https://www.youtube.com/@ForensicScienceCrisis</a> it consists of records in the public domain, including parliamentary enquiries, reports by the forensic regulator, media and others. Please do visit, like and subscribe.</p> <p>Secondly, to start with I&#39;ll be posting some previous threads I had on the other place just to build some context and provide a historical record of my views of the forensic science market over the years. I&#39;ve deactivated my account over there so will have to figure out how to do that from the archived data.</p> <p>Finally, the Home Secretary has just announced that the government appears to want do something about the appalling state of forensic science in E&amp;W, although there is no published plan or strategy yet.</p> Sun, 24 Nov 2024 15:03:21 GMT https://blue.feedland.org/?item=787586 https://blue.feedland.org/?item=787586 sooo starting all over again on bluesky. I'll be posting on all things forensic with the #Forensic. I've been thinking about how to tweet/post (whatever) on the crisis in Forensic Science in England and Wales Firstly I have created a youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/@ForensicScienceCrisis it consists of records in the public domain, including parliamentary enquiries, reports by the forensic regulator, media and others. Please do visit, like and subscribe. Secondly, to start with I'll be posting some previous threads I had on the other place just to build some context and provide a historical record of my views of the forensic science market over the years. I've deactivated my account over there so will have to figure out how to do that from the archived data. Finally, the Home Secretary has just announced that the government appears to want do something about the appalling state of forensic science in E&W, although there is no published plan or strategy yet.